This weekend, I sat down to watch Channel 4’s The Experiment, presented by Mat Fraser and Sophie Morgan.
I’ll admit, when I first heard about the programme, I was deeply uncomfortable with the concept. As a disabled person, I found the idea triggering and worried about how such a disturbing subject would be handled.
But I felt I owed it to myself, both personally and as a disability rights campaigner, to watch.
And I’m glad I did, even though parts were extremely difficult to stomach.
For those unfamiliar with the history, Nazi Germany introduced Aktion T4 in 1939, initially targeting disabled children before extending the programme to adults.
Doctors assessed disabled people according to their impairments, ability to work and supposed value to society.
Between January 1940 and August 1941, 70,273 disabled people were murdered. The killings continued after the official programme ended, with estimates eventually reaching 275,000–300,000 deaths.
These weren’t statistics. They were human beings whose lives were deemed too expensive, too inconvenient or simply not worth living.
The Experiment recreated elements of Nazi propaganda within a fictional modern-day residential facility called SegriLife House.
The residents and staff were actors, but the attitudes being tested were frighteningly real.
Visitors were shown a supposedly caring environment where disabled people lived together, carried out menial tasks and attended indoctrination sessions.
Behind that carefully presented image were cramped sleeping quarters, virtually no independence, coercive assisted dying choices and even sterilisation.
What disturbed me most wasn’t simply the cruelty being portrayed.
It was how easily some people accepted it.
Even when disabled residents raised concerns, their voices were dismissed or silenced.
Some visitors challenged what they witnessed. One even recognised similarities with Nazi Germany.
But others appeared convinced that segregating disabled people was somehow in our best interests.
And perhaps most chillingly, some seemed particularly interested in the money society could save.
That hit a nerve.
I’ve lived independently since 2010. I rely on personal assistance to live my life, work, campaign and contribute to my community.
My independence isn’t a luxury. It’s my human right.
Yet I’ve spent years fighting systems that too often view disabled people as costs rather than citizens.
Imagine being told where to live, what to eat, what clothes to wear and when to go to bed.
Imagine having no meaningful control over your own life, while society congratulates itself for looking after you.
That’s not care. That’s institutionalisation dressed up as compassion.
It’s one of the reasons I became involved with Disabled People Against Cuts and helped establish DPAC Northern Ireland.
I don’t entirely blame the visitors. They were deliberately exposed to propaganda, half-truths and carefully constructed narratives.
But that’s precisely the warning.
Look at how disabled people are portrayed in sections of today’s media. The Daily Mail, GB News, TalkTV and political narratives around welfare spending all deserve scrutiny when they present disabled people primarily as an economic burden.
When governments talk endlessly about costs, dependency and savings, we must question whose lives are being devalued.
I’m not suggesting we’re living in Nazi Germany. But history teaches us what can happen when dehumanising attitudes become normalised.
A warning before watching: If this subject could seriously affect your wellbeing, please don’t feel obliged to watch.
But I particularly urge young, non-disabled people to see it.
Question what you’re told. Challenge the propaganda. Listen to disabled people.
Because rights are rarely taken away overnight. They’re gradually eroded, often under the pretence of helping those affected.
This could be our future.
And one day, it could be yours.